Why it works: Orange and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Candied Orange Peel
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the orange rind into thin strips.
Soak the strips in cold water for two days, changing the water ten times a day.
Drain the strips.
Blanch
Cover them with cold water in a pot.
Bring the water to a boil.
Drain again.
Make the candied peel
Make a thick syrup.
Cook the orange strips in the syrup until they become translucent.
Remove the strips from the syrup.
Roll them in granulated sugar.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Orange rind
- Provides the citrus aroma and flavor, and the peel that becomes translucent candy.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the peel and, as a thick syrup, replaces water to preserve it and give a glossy coating.
The step that matters
Cooking the strips in the syrup until translucent. Sugar must be concentrated enough to draw water out of the peel and replace it. Cooking too hard can break or toughen the strips, so the heat should stay gentle.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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